Abstract: A field study was conducted at Brown Hill Soils (Eutrochrepts) of South Eastern Hilly region at Hill Tracts Agricultural Research Station, Ramgarh, Khagrachari during the Kharif seasons of 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, respectively. The objective was to evaluate the response of ginger (cv. local) to B and Zn fertilization and to find out the optimum dose of Zn and B for maximizing yield of ginger in Hilly Region. Four levels of B (0.1, 2 and 3 kg ha-1) and Zn (0, 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5 kg ha-1) along with combined blanket dose of N180 P50 K120 S20 and CD5 t ha-1 were taken in the experiment to study. It is evident from studied data revealed that Zn either in single or in combination with B made significant effect on ginger production in micronutrient deficient soils. However boron produced 46.72% higher yield in first year and 89.92% higher yield in second year over boron control (Bo) whole calculated 23.72 and 52.26% higher yield than that of Zinc in two consecutive years. The integrated effect of B and Zn was found to be highly significant and markedly influenced the rhizome yields and other yield attributes of ginger. The boron (3 kg ha-1) and zinc (4.5 kg ha-1) individually produced rhizome yield 23.5 and 25.8 t h-1 and 20.4 and 22.3 t ha-1 in three consecutive years of 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, respectively. However, integration of Zn and B at the maximum level (B3.0 Mo4.5 kg ha-1) significantly produced the highest ginger yield (25.5 and 26.8 t ha-1) and 125 and 143% yield increase over Boron-Zinc control (Bo Zno) in two successive years of study. Similarly, the highest net economic return Tk.7, 52.030 and Tk. 804000 and the highest marginal rate of return (MRR) 484 and 548%, respectively were obtained with the application of B at the rate of 3 kg ha-1 and Zn at the rate of 4.5 kg ha-1 which was found to be economically profitable for ginger production in South-Eastern Hilly region.
INTRODUCTION
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a popular spice crop in Bangladesh. It is also an important cash crop of Chittagong Hill Tracts region. Spice like ginger is an integral part of daily culinary preparation for its aromatic pungency scent and tasty flavor. The tribal and hilly farmers usually plant ginger in hill slopes either in the form of shifting cultivation locally known as Jhum cultivation or in furrows after conventionally preparing the land with subsequent ridging. These methods are very much hazardous for soil erosion due to excessive torrential rain during monsoon months. Since most of the lands in this area are hilly and rugged topography. Zero tillage or minimum tillage system of cultivation could be best suited for this region as they minimize the soil erosion (Van Doran et al., 1977) to a tolerable limit. Ginger can be grown in wide range of soils. But it prefers to grow in light textured and well drained soils as it can not grow and sustain in water-logged condition. Besides, the hilly farmers usually do not use any chemical fertilizer to grow this spice crop. They just dibble the ginger seeds (rhizome) and harvest after maturity. It is evident that ginger and turmeric are highly responsive to chemical fertilizers. Roy et al. (1992) found in their report that micro-nutrients like Zn, Fe and B with increased rates progressively increased the growth and rhizome yield of ginger. Similar observations were also made by Babu et al. (1995), Banafar and Tiwari, (1995) and Sugtto and Matuchah (1993) in their findings and stated that with the addition of chemical fertilizers especially nitrogen and potassium remarkably increased the yield of ginger rhizome. It is also evidenced that micro-nutrients can play an important role in disease control and even increase the post harvest life (duration) of spice crop like ginger. Moreover, many spices producers in hilly region do not feel encouraged to grow this spice ginger due to incurring huge losses by disease incidence. In Bangladesh context, there had been a very limited and sporadic research done on spices production especially for ginger and turmeric. Hence, from above points of view, such a field study was undertaken to evaluate the response of ginger for different levels of zinc and boron for maximizing yield of finger at Brown Hill Soils of South Eastern Hilly region.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The field experiment was conducted at Brown Hill Soils (Eutrochrepts) of Hill Tracts Agricultural Research Station, Ramgarh, Khagrachari during Kharif seasons of 2001-2005 and 2005-2006 to find out the optimum dose of Zn and B for boosting ginger yield in hilly region. The experimental soil was found to be strongly acidic in nature and the organic matter including other nutrients element status was below critical levels. The physical and chemical properties of analyzed soil sample are presented in Table 1.
The field trials were laid out in randomized block design having replications thrice. The unit plot size and seed to seed distance were 4x5 m and 50x25 cm, respectively. There were sixteen treatment combinations comprising each of 4 levels of B (0, 1, 2 and 3 kg ha-1) and 4 levels of Zn (0, 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5 kg ha-1) along with blanket does of N180 P50 K120 S20 and CD5 t ha-1 were taken in study. Local rhizome (cv.) of ginger was used as a test crop. All PKSZnB and CD were applied as source of urea, TSP, MP, Gypsum, Boric Acid and Zinc Oxide during final land preparation. Nitrogen was applied around the plants in split at 80 and 110 days after planting rhizome seeds. Intercultural operations like mulching, weeding, earthing up etc were done as required by the experiment. The seeds were planted in first week of April, 2004 and 2005, respectively and harvested on mid February for both the years. Necessary data on different parameters were recorded from 10 randomly selected plants. The collected data on plant height, leaves number, number of fingers, finger size and weight and yield of ginger per plant were analyzed statistically and adjusted with Least Significant Difference (LSD) at 5% level of significance.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Effect of boron: The significant influence on all the factors studied
were made by applying boron over B control (Bo). Plant height, leaves
number, fingers number, finger size, finger weights and rhizome yield per plant
significantly increased with the increase in B rates up to 3 kg B ha-1.
| Table 1: | Nutrient status of experimental soil prior to fertilizer application |
| Source: Soil Science Laboratory, BARI | |
| Table 2a: | Main effects of boron and zinc on the yield and yield attributes of Ginger at HARS, ramgarh during 2004-2005 |
| Table 2b: | Main effects of Boron and Zinc on the yield and yield attributes of Ginger at HARS, Ramgarh during 2005-2006 |
It is also evidenced from the Table 2a and b revealed that yield and other yield related parameters significantly progressed in upward trend. However, applied 4 levels of B with treated plants, 3 kg B ha-1 at maximum level significantly accelerated the growth and other yield contributing characters of ginger. The highest Plant height (58.4 and 60.3 cm), maximum leaves number (27.2 and 26.1/plant) were recorded with 3 kg B ha-1 followed by boron at the rate of B2 kg ha-1 and statistically different over B control (B0). In the same manner, individual weight of finger, finger size and weight of turmeric per plant significantly increased with the increase of B level up to 3 kg B ha-1. The ginger crop significantly responded to B levels from 0 to t 3 B kg ha-1 as the native soil was found to be Boron deficient. However, the maximum finger size (5.5x7.6 cm and 5.8x8.0 cm), weight of ginger (289 and 293/plant) and the highest ginger yield (23.5 and 25.8t ha-1) were obtained by applying boron at the rate of 3 kg B ha-1. Similar results were reported by Roy et al. (1992), Gupta and Singer (1998) and Venkatesha et al. (1995). It was also observed that both B and Zn had encouraging effect on ginger but the effect of B was more pronounced than that of zinc.
Effect of zinc: The yield and yield contributing characters of ginger
are shown in Table 2a and b stated that
as like boron, Zn made an significant influence on growth and other yield attributes
of ginger.
| Table 3a: | Interaction effect of boron and zinc on the yield and yield attributes of ginger of HARS, Ramgah, Khagrachari, during 2004-2005 |
| Table 3b: | Interaction effect of boron and zinc on the yield and yield attributes of ginger of HARS, Ramgah, Khagrachari, during 2005-2006 |
It was appeared in the Table 2a and b that with the increase of zinc levels, all the growth and yield contributing parameters significantly increased in linear trend. But this increment among the studied parameters was not distinctly expressed. Four levels of Zn was applied to the treated plots, Zn at the highest rate (4.5 kg ha-1) significantly affected the yield and other yield contributing characters. Plant height, leaves number, fingers number, fingers size and fingers weight/plant and ginger (rhizome) yield increased progressively against the application of Zn at 4.5 kg ha-1. However, the highest plant height (44.6 and 53.3cm), number of leaves (14.4 and 15.0/plant), number of fingers (14.1 and 10.9/plant) were recorded by applying 4.5 kg Zn ha-1 which was statistically at par to the treatment Zn3.0 but significantly higher over lower dose of boron (B1.5 kg ha-1) and boron control (Bo) treatments in two consecutive years. Other parameters like ginger weight, finger size and rhizome yield progressed in upwards direction. The larger finger size (4.8x6.9 and 7.0x7.3 cm), the ginger weight (258 and 26 g/plant) and the highest rhizome yield (20.4 and 22.3 t ha-1) were recorded with 4.5 kg Zn ha-1 which was statistically differed over other Zinc levels and (23 and 37.66%) yield increase over the Zn control (Zn0) in both the years of study. This result strongly supported the findings of Pandey (1992) and Mohanty et al. (1993). They also stated that the combined blanket does of NPK along with micronutrients significantly increase the rhizome yield.
Interaction effect of Zn and B: The data on studied parameters are placed in Table 3a and b reflected that combined application of Zn and B significantly augmented the yield and yield contributing permanents over control (Zn Bo). It was also revealed that growth and other yield attributes were highly increased with the subsequent addition of Zn and B. The significant increase in plant height, leaves number, fingers number were also noticed with the application of Zn-B integration up to Zn4.5B3.0 kg ha-1. However, the highest plant height (64.3 and 66.0 cm), maximum leaves numbers (16.3 and 18.7/plant) were recorded at the highest level of B3.0Zn4.5 kg ha-1 which was statistically similar with treatment B2.0Zn4.5 but significantly higher over lower dose of B1.0Zn1.5 kg ha-1 and the control treatment (B0Zn0), respectively. This result was partially corroborated with the findings of Patra (1998) and Wilson and Ovid (1993). The response of ginger to Zn and B was found to be more distinct might be the possible reason of deficiency of said elements in the studied soil. Other parameters like finger weight per plant, finger size and rhizome yield were also significantly affected by successive addition of Zn and B with increasing rates. A judicious integration of both macro and micro-nutrients along with organic manure not only increased the rhizome yield but also helped to contain soil fertility to some extent. However, the significant increase of finger weight, finger size and ginger yield were noticeably increased with the increment of Zn and B. The integration of B and Zn at the rate of B3.0Zn4.5 Kg ha-1 along with recommended dose of N180 P50 K120 S20 and CD5 t ha-1 produced the largest finger size (5.9x8.2 and 6.7x8.9 cm), rhizome weight (334 g and 340 g/plant) and the highest ginger yield (25.5 and 26.8 t ha-1) in two consecutive years of 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, respectively.
ECONOMICS
The economic analysis of integrated effect of B and Zn on the yield of ginger
are shown in Table 4a and b and Table
5a and b, respectively.
| Table 4a: | Partial budget and dominance analysis for response of ginger to zinc and boron at HARS, Ramgarh, Khagrachari during 2004-2005 |
| Price: Urea: Tk. 6.00/kg, TSP: Tk. 12.00/kg, MP: Tk. 8.00/kg, GYP: Tk. 4.00/kg, Boric Acid: Tk.70.00/kg, Zinc Oxide: Tk. 50.00/kg, Cowdung: Tk. 0.75/kg, Ginger: Tk. 30/kg | |
| Table 4b: | Partial budget and dominance analysis for response of ginger to zinc and boron at HARS, Ramgarh, Khagrachari during 2005-2006 |
| Price: Urea: Tk. 6.00/kg, TSP: Tk. 12.00/kg, MP: Tk. 8.00/kg, GYP: Tk. 4.00/kg, Boric Acid: Tk.70.00/kg, Zinc Oxide: Tk. 50.00/kg, Cowdung: Tk. 0.75/kg, Ginger: Tk. 30/kg | |
| Table 5a: | Marginal analysis of cost undominated treatment for response of ginger to zinc and Boron at HARS, Ramgarh, Khagrachari during 2004-2005 |
| Table 5b: | Marginal analysis of cost undominated treatment for response of ginger to zinc and Boron at HARS, Ramgarh, Khagrachari during 2004-2005 |
It is evident from the tables that the highest gross margin Tk. 7,52,030 and 8,04000/-by T16 (B3 Zn4.5 kg ha-1) which was significantly dominated over other treatments. This was due to higher yield of ginger. The highest Marginal Rate of Return (MRR) 484 and 547.62% was also derived from same treatment combination T16 (B310 Zn4.15 kg ha-1) in the two Pears study. It is meant that if the farmer would invest Tk. 100, he might get benefit of Tk. 484 and Tk. 547.62, respectively. So from the economic point of view, application of B at the rate of 3 kg ha-1 along with 4.5 Kg Zn ha-1 can be profitable for maximizing the yield of ginger.
CONCLUSIONS
It is revealed from two years study, that zinc and boron made an encouraging effect on the yield and yield attributes of ginger. However, it is summarized from the studied result that B at the rate of 3.0 kg ha-1 and Zn 4.5 kg ha-1 along with combined blanket dose of N180P50K120S20 and CD 5 t ha-1 was found to be optimum for maximizing yield of ginger in South-Eastern Brown Hill Soils (Eurochrepts) of Chittagong Hill Tract Region.